1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to picture frames and, more particularly, to picture frames formed from a unitary blank of cardboard, paper board, plastic or the like.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Inexpensive picture frames made from paper board, or the like, are well-known. Such frames may be inexpensively fabricated from a unitary blank of paper board by folding the blank along fold or score lines which are pre-formed in the blank. Such frames generally suffer from a number of disadvantages, one of which concerns poor retention of a picture placed in the frame. Specifically, such frames are generally open at their bottom edges to permit insertion of a picture which is intended to be frictionally engaged between front and rear frame panels. Unfortunately, such engagement is not reliable and pictures quite often fall out through the open bottom edge of the frame. Another disadvantage of such prior art frames relates to the inability to reliably maintain the frame upright when it is placed on a table or other support surface. The support arrangement for such frames generally includes a support tab which is partially cut out of the rear panel and is foldable such that it projects out of the plane of that panel. The lower edge of the support tab cooperates with the bottom edge of the rear panel to provide support edges for the frame. The support tab, however, is often inadvertently deformed, sometimes during folding of the tab out of the rear panel plane, and other times during use, resulting in a tab structure which is not sufficiently rigid to support the frame.
Other attempts to provide inexpensive paper board frames have at least partially solved one or the other of the aforementioned problems; however, no single frame has been provided which satisfactorily solves both problems while remaining inexpensive to fabricate.